The latest Grok controversy is revealing not for the extremist outputs, but for how it exposes a fundamental dishonesty in AI development.

Elon Musk has just unveiled “Companions,” a new feature for his AI chatbot, Grok, that allows users to interact with AI personas. These include Ani, a gothic anime girl who communicates with emojis, flirtatious messages, and facts, as well as Rudy, a friendly red panda.

Musk confirmed that the AI companion feature is currently in a soft launch and will be easier to activate for Super AI subscribers in a few days.

An AI model launched last week appears to have shipped with an unexpected occasional behavior: checking what its owner thinks first.

This marks a shift in the AI wars. Instead of just competing on intelligence or reasoning, Musk wants Grok to feel more personal, more addictive, and more human, or at least more fun. But the reactions online show that people are split. SuperGrok now has two new companions for you, say hello to Ani and Rudy! pic.twitter.com/SRrV6T0MGT

AI chatbot Grok, which is produced by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, issued an apology Saturday after it made numerous antisemitic posts on X this week following an update

The tech billionaire unveiled its latest version, Grok 4, which he claims is "smarter than almost all graduate students, in all disciplines, simultaneously."